Captain Action was an action figure from the 60s that had a short lived comic book published by DC; have a quick look at the Wikipedia page here for more info. By the way, the second issue featured a cover that I’ve included in the pre-Crisis section of the COIE #7 homages page which you can find here.

The reason for me telling you this? It’s because of another crazy ad I found in some 60s Justice League of America issues:

A quick four panel story and some information on the toys:

Captain Action comes with “crime fighting accessories” . . . but we’re not going to tell you what, oh no . . . no, you have to buy the toy – sorry, action figure, to find out.

Action Boy? Oh he has a helmet, knife, ray gun and panther.

A freaking panther?! What the hell? I know this was still the era of the teen sidekick but you let this kid walk around with a panther?!

Dr Evil – he’s evil! You can tell by his deeds . . . which are evil! And his outfit . . . is evil!!

And the things he comes with . . . “evil, evil things!”

He’s evil, people! EVIL!

Man . . . the 60s, eh?

Looking through some old Justice League of America issues the other day and came across this ad for Motorific action highway sets:

There’s a couple of things wrong with this ad, not least the first claim from Fred or Larry:

Seriously? “All new cars” have to go through the following?

Who’s driving their new car through what appears to be a brick wall?

At least the above are more run of the mill road tests.

And while it’s not exactly Grand Theft Auto, the introduction of a Le Mans timer does add a little frisson to the car track, but the thing that got me the most was this outrageous claim:

An “automatic service centre adds excitement“?! How is an automatic service centre exciting when compared with driving through a busy intersection, racing against the Le Mans timer or even crashing through a brick wall? What were you telling your children in the 60s, America?